Air imported directly from the Sahara Desert into Western Europe will result in a record-shattering heat wave this week that could break all-time monthly temperature records in some locations, including Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland and Denmark.
Why it matters: An extended heat wave at the start of summer is a threat to public health, since people are not yet accustomed to such high temperatures, making them more susceptible to heat-related illnesses. Europe has a history of deadly heat events in recent years. In 2003, for example, an August heat wave contributed to as many as 70,000 excess deaths, primarily in France, and became the first extreme weather event to be conclusively tied to human-caused global warming.
2020 Democratic White House hopeful Jay Inslee unveiled plans Monday aimed at weaning the U.S. off of reliance on coal, oil and gas.
Why it matters: The mix of legislative and executive proposals to restrict fossil fuel development comes just ahead of this week's first debate — and while the Washington governor is very low in the polls, his climate-focused campaign has raised the topic's profile in the race.
President Trump complained via Twitter on Monday that Asian nations heavily reliant on oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz weren’t doing enough to safeguard tanker traffic.
"[W]hy are we protecting the shipping lanes for other countries (many years) for zero compensation. All of these countries should be protecting their own ships on what has always been a dangerous journey."
Why it matters: It’s the latest wrinkle in the escalating tensions with Iran around the Strait of Hormuz — presumably what Trump meant when he cited nations’ reliance on the "Straight."
The Trump administration is not publicizing study findings on climate change effects or promoting government-funded research on how higher temperatures are damaging crops and posing health risks, Politico reports.
Details: The peer-reviewed studies, cleared through the nonpartisan Agricultural Research Service, the principal in-house research agency of the Department of Agriculture, examined the effects of carbon dioxide, rising temperatures and volatile weather, rather than specifically focusing on the causes of global warming, according to Politico.
As the U.S. solar market continues to grow, a new report offers a nice snapshot of the global picture on solar and other renewables.
The big picture: "Solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind are now mainstream options in the power sector, with an increasing number of countries generating more than 20% of their electricity with solar PV and wind," notes the report from the group REN21.
Check out the chart above, which shows that installed global solar PV capacity reached 505 gigawatts last year.
